President-elect Robert Carlson calls for more cooperation between ABA and state and local bars
ABA President-elect Robert Carlson
Robert M. Carlson of Corette Black Carlson & Mickelson of Butte, Montana, has assumed the role of president-elect of the American Bar Association and is scheduled to become president for the 2018-2019 term.
Along with thanks to many association members and staff, past and present, while speaking before the House of Delegates on Tuesday at the ABA Annual Meeting in New York City, Carlson delivered a tribute to former ABA President Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III, who died in May. Carlson says that as he became active in the ABA in the 1990s, Robinson was a friend and source of inspiration.
“He was so engaging and full of enthusiasm for the ABA that I couldn’t wait to get started,” Carlson recalled.
Carlson also praised former ABA president Paulette Brown for her diversity efforts. “Justice must be available to everyone, and justice must look like everyone, and you have our commitment that we will continue to fight every day until that happens.”
He commended ABA President Linda Klein for “staying the course during difficult times” during the past year, and committed himself to building on the initiatives of former presidents. “This is not a sprint, and frankly it is not a marathon, but a relay,” Carlson told the audience, and said that he would endeavor to carry and pass the baton safely.
He called for closer cooperation between the ABA and state and local bar associations. He said local bar associations could serve as wonderful laboratories for various projects, but without better communication about those efforts, successful programs couldn’t be properly expanded. “We can’t keep what we do to ourselves,” he said.
Carlson praised the ABA for bringing together lawyers from all areas and types of practice. He compared his own circumstances as a small-town Montana lawyer from a six-member firm to that of the new ABA president, Hilarie Bass, who is from the Miami firm Greenberg Traurig, which has 38 locations worldwide.
Carlson pledged to guide the association in pursuit of its goals of defending liberty and pursuing justice.
“Though we may need to change how we do things, we won’t change who we are, and we will not change what we stand for,” he told the delegates.
Follow along with our full coverage of the 2017 ABA Annual Meeting.
